Re: poudriere and the user ... is it mostly a lost idea?

On Jan 15, 2025, at 8:16 AM, Dennis Clarke <dclarke@blastwave.org> wrote:
> 
>    Over the past month or so I see endless fails in builds for the big
> three user facing window manager things. This means that a simple user
> type person can not get a desktop. Really? Yes really. For at least a
> month or more you can not build KDE5 nor LXDE nor XFCE desktop. With
> FreeBSD there is a trivial idea that it exists in source form and one
> can compile *anything* needed. Am I wrong here?
> 
>     So correct me, with a taser to the left, gently, if I am wrong.
> 
> Sure, a user can just use whatever packages are being provided by some
> magic server somewhere in a fluffy cloud with coloured unicorns that
> dance on the rainbows.
> 
> 
>        Failed:  ??
> 
>        Poudriere lately always says fail.
> 
>        Every day.
> 
> 
> Every time. For the last month or more and I suspect more if I drag the
> logs out. I do not want to do that. I just am curious and perhaps misled
> with a silly notion that FreeBSD can be used by, you know, a user. This
> is not ubuntu and I am so thankful for that. This is not IBM or Red Fat.
> 
> Why do I always see things like this :
> 
>    Queued: 31 Built: 21 Failed: 1  Skipped: 9  Ignored: 0  Fetched: 0 Tobuild: 0   Time: 00:09:43
> 
> Every day. Over and over. For 14.2 and 13.4 and even 15.0 ?  Every day.
> 
> [142amd64-latest] [2025-01-15_15h06m30s] [parallel_build] Queued: 315 Built: 20  Failed: 0   Skipped: 0   Ignored: 0   Fetched: 0   Tobuild: 295  Time: 00:03:39
> 
> It will fail. For 2025Q1 or 2024Q4 or whatever is "latest".  Fail.
> 
> So I am happy to kick this hornets nest. Let the flames begin. Fine.
> 
> The whole desktop user experience is broken and has been for a long
> time. I have the logs. I see the fails. Over and over.
> 
> For a long time now.
> 
> So then, do I labour under the false assumption that FreeBSD can be,
> you know, used? By a ... you know ... a human type?  Am I lost here ?
> 
> If the power to serve is just a backend server. Then fine. State that
> up front and lets drop the whole user stuff into a deep oubliette.

If you want to get a desktop up and running quickly then you can use the pre-built packages (which are signed and verified by default, clouds and unicorns notwithstanding).

If you choose to build all of your software locally that is 100% a supported option but it does put more responsibility on you, the user. When you get a build failure you are welcome to report it to the maintainer (listed in every single port file) and/or the appropriate mailing list (which -current is not, btw). Include the commands you are running and other configuration details as well as the exact error output.

Note, however, that the automated package build system already emails port maintainers on build failures and, choosing xfce as an example, I don’t see any such reports in the mailing list archives (https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-xfce/). You can even view the results of the project’s package build system (which also uses poudriere) by following the instructions here: https://people.freebsd.org/~grahamperrin/pkg-status/

On a recent quarterly build I don’t see any failed or skipped ports related to the desktop environments you mentioned. (https://pkg-status.freebsd.org/beefy20/build.html?mastername=141amd64-quarterly&build=7b2027223baa)

I’d advise you to do more troubleshooting on your local system and provide some better details if you decide to ask for help in an appropriate forum, such as the freebsd-questions mailing list or the online forums at https://forums.freebsd.org/ or the mailing list(s) listed as maintainers for the ports you are having problems building.

Good luck,

JN